Poverty, Tobacco, and Health: An Indian Scenario

Poverty and health have a two-way relationship. Poverty increases the vulnerability of people to disease, and sickness affects their income leading to poverty. Tobacco has been identified as a major avoidable cause of illness and premature death. In India, more than half of men and one-tenth of women use one or more forms of tobacco. Tobacco-use shows a clear and continual increase with decreasing wealth quintiles. Poor smokers, who are at a greater risk of illness, are also at a greater risk of not being treated or of falling into greater poverty if they seek treatment. Poor people spend money on tobacco that could be spent on food, shelter, education, and healthcare. These decisions can entrench families in an ongoing cycle of poverty and ill-health. The direct and indirect costs of tobacco-use are immense for national economy. This has positioned control of tobacco relevant in India's per suite to achieve the goals of poverty eradication and health for all

Multidimensional study of social anxiety in autism spectrum disorder

openL'ansia sociale è un costrutto multidimensionale caratterizzato da sintomi cognitivi, emotivi e comportamentali ed è molto frequente nei bambini con disturbi dello spettro autistico, anche a causa delle difficoltà che essi sperimentano nella comunicazione e nell'interazione sociale. In questo studio ho indagato l'ansia sociale in bambini con disturbo dello spettro autistico attraverso il Trier Social Stress Test, analizzando le risposte cognitive, emotive e comportamentali e le risposte fisiologiche attraverso la misurazione della frequenza cardiaca con l'elettrocardiogramma

Environmental and water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in schools: a community-based cross-sectional study from North India

Background: Schools environment is essential for children to achieve optimal health and development. Faulty construction leads to inadequate ventilation and moisture accumulation which increase the levels of morbidities. Schools should also serve as demonstration centres of good sanitation to the community hence healthful environment and functional toilets and WASH facilities are of utmost importance for school children.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study includes randomly selected 50 schools of Sonepat district which were functional for more than 5 years. Schools were recruited by PPS. A schedule was used to assess the environment and WASH conditions. Percentage, proportion and Chi-square test were used as statistical methods. The p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: 68.4% government schools and 51.6% private schools were located in a rural area. 68% schools were having multi-storied building, 72% schools were located at appropriate land. Ventilation was inadequate in 58% schools while all schools were having adequate lighting. Ergonomically sitting facilities were observed in one school only. Water treatment was done in 68% schools. Toilets were adequate in 58% schools but cleaning was done daily in 46% schools. Handwashing points were available in 96% schools but soap was observed in 10.4% schools only. Garbage disposal was observed to be sanitary in 52% schools while liquid waste disposal was sanitary in 44% schools.Conclusions: The study points towards deficiency of environment and WASH conditions in schools and recommends the school authorities to take corrective measures

Mobile Payment Adoption in India: Role of Attitude and Risks

This paper examines the emergence of mobile payments as a payment alternative in India. Despite economic growth, marked improvement in social indicators, and rising incomes and savings rate, nearly 41% of the Indian population remained unbanked. Use of self-service technologies such as ATMs and Internet banking had limited success. Given the high penetration of mobile phones, mobile technology was being seen as a mode of transforming the banking sector and in particular payment mechanisms. Most research on attitude towards technology and its adoption has been conducted in developed countries and their applicability to Indian consumers remained unclear. This paper offers a conceptual model proposing that mobile payment adoption in India will be influenced key technology adoption factors i.e., expectations of performance and effort in using mobile payments, facilitating conditions provided for its use, and social influence. Further, we propose several moderators to this relationship: attitude towards the mobile payment service provider, attitude towards mobile payments, perceived risk, privacy concerns and demographic factors. We encourage researchers to empirically test this model so as to enable mobile service providers, banks, and other financial solutions operators to increase the adoption of mobile payment solutions they offer in India

Awareness and practices of correct and consistent use of condoms among sexually active males in India - a cross sectional study

Background: About 2.5 million Indian are estimated to be HIV positive apart from the other STIs and around 1/4th of the births are unwanted. Condom has become a popular method being promoted for meeting these challenges. The objectives of the study were to understand the awareness and practices regarding correct and consistent use of condoms among sexually active males in India.Methods: Three randomly selected primary health centers in southern India. All male members reported to be using condoms by the PHCs, were visited at their homes. A pre-tested check list (Yes/No) type questionnaire was used to collect the data. Commonly available guide line regarding correct and consistent were used as the baseline knowledge. Responses thus received were evaluated and graded using five point scales. Income, education and years of use wise differentials were also analyzed.Results: Out of 7326 eligible couples 7.2% were reported to be using condoms. Response rate was 88 percent. 27 (12%), 82 (36%), 89 (39%), 18 (8%) and 11 (5%), were having poor, fair, good, very good and excellent level of awareness respectively and fewer were putting their knowledge into practice. Respondent having schooling for more than ten years or per capita income of more than Rupee 1000 or using condoms since more than five years were having better level of awareness as well as practices.Conclusions: Awareness and practices regarding correct and consistent condom use lags substantially behind the desired levels

A Study of Project Management Practices in the Czech Republic

The importance of project management has hastily increased and its rapid development and tendency towards innovation has made it one of the key components of organizations’ performance. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper was to conduct a systematic study of the current situation and practices in the field of project management in the Czech Republic. Four areas of project management are closely studied: stakeholders´ main demands and requests, main characteristics of project management, level of use of project management methods and identification of the characteristics of the respondents. The research has an explanatory character and works with primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained through an on-line cross-sectional survey comprising of four parts (identical to the areas studied) conducted in the Czech Republic in 2016. The questionnaire consisted of twenty questions in total and it had elements of both quantitative and qualitative research. It yielded 118 usable responses. The sample examined was random but expert - it covered organizations operating in the Czech Republic and respondents were asked to identify their professionalism and experience in the area of project management. Furthermore, the results of the authors’ survey were compared with the results of similar surveys from the last five years providing secondary data. This comparison brought forth additional insights and better understanding of the theoretical grounding. The results showed a prominent relationship and, to some extent, a correlation between understanding (defining) a successful project and identifying success factors, stakeholder demands and problematic areas, displaying a complexity of working in the field of project management. Furthermore, a vaguely-defined scope was identified as the most problematic area and issue influencing project success. Overall, the study indicates the necessity for innovation, such as the development of a basic framework for project governance approaches as well as an increase in the use of available project management methods. These directions will not only improve project management, but will also boost entrepreneurship spirit and help modern, highly potential start-ups to be competitive in the market

Poverty, Tobacco, and Health: An Indian Scenario

Poverty and health have a two-way relationship. Poverty increases the vulnerability of people to disease, and sickness affects their income leading to poverty. Tobacco has been identified as a major avoidable cause of illness and premature death. In India, more than half of men and one-tenth of women use one or more forms of tobacco. Tobacco-use shows a clear and continual increase with decreasing wealth quintiles. Poor smokers, who are at a greater risk of illness, are also at a greater risk of not being treated or of falling into greater poverty if they seek treatment. Poor people spend money on tobacco that could be spent on food, shelter, education, and healthcare. These decisions can entrench families in an ongoing cycle of poverty and ill-health. The direct and indirect costs of tobacco-use are immense for national economy. This has positioned control of tobacco relevant in India's per suite to achieve the goals of poverty eradication and health for all

Communication between Students and Teachers in Realization of Extracurricular Activities

Extracurricular activities represent educational, preplanned actions which enable complete confirmation of students&rsquo; personality as well as development of their communication skills and competencies; whilst they enable the teachers to expand their educational influence. Modern school can&rsquo;t be imagined without innovations or modifications to the entire communicational discourse, since its perspective is to be a progressive model whereat main communicational types of behavior are learnt and formed. The research was carried out at primary and secondary schools in the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mostar region) and it included 590 students and 315 teachers. With this empirical research we have tested the presence of a democratic, voluntary, partnership and pedagogic-stimulating communication within the process of putting the extracurricular activities into realization. The goal of our research was to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference between evaluations made by students and those made by teachers of primary and secondary schools that a democratic, voluntary, partnership and pedagogic stimulating communication is mostly dominant in the process of putting extracurricular activities into realization. The results we have collected have shown the difference between students&rsquo; and teachers&rsquo; perception of dominant communication in realization of extracurricular activities

Sports balls as potential SARS-CoV-2 transmission vectors.

Objects passed from one player to another have not been assessed for their ability to transmit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We found that the surface of sport balls, notably a football, tennis ball, golf ball, and cricket ball could not harbour inactivated virus when it was swabbed onto the surface, even for 30 ​s. However, when high concentrations of 5000 ​dC/mL and 10,000 ​dC/mL are directly pipetted onto the balls, it could be detected after for short time periods. Sports objects can only harbour inactivated SARS-CoV-2 under specific, directly transferred conditions, but wiping with a dry tissue or moist 'baby wipe' or dropping and rolling the balls removes all detectable viral traces. This has helpful implications to sporting events